Saadi Gaddafi RCMP affidavit could affect case of Cynthia Vanier

MEXICO — An RCMP affidavit unsealed on Friday has revealed new details about an alleged Canadian-led plot to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi to Mexico as his dictator father’s regime was falling to Libyan rebels in 2011.

Since her arrest 14 months ago in Mexico City, where she has been charged with conspiring the fly Mr. Gaddafi and his family into the country on false documents, Canadian mediator Cynthia Vanier has denied the allegations.

But last April, when the RCMP applied for a warrant to search the Montreal headquarters of SNC-Lavalin, Cpl. Brenda Makad portrayed a 2011 fact-finding mission to Libya headed by Ms. Vanier as part of a smuggling plot.

The sworn police statement said the trip was initiated by Mr. Gaddafi’s Ontario-based bodyguard Gary Peters, who wanted to show a side of the Libyan armed conflict he felt was being ignored by the press.

He approached SNC-Lavalin vice-president Riadh Ben Aissa, who directed him to his controller Stéphane Roy, police alleged. Mr. Roy provided $740,000 to pay for the 10-day trip. The money went to Ms. Vanier’s company, Vanier Consulting, which in turn hired Mr. Peters.

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Cpl. Makad said the trip was billed as a fact-finding mission “but I have reasonable grounds to believe that the real goal of this mission was to plan/facilitate the extraction of Saadi Gaddafi and his family from Libya and then to bring them to Mexico using false documents.”

The allegation is consistent with what Mexican authorities have alleged. The RCMP affidavit contains only unproven allegations that were presented to a justice of the peace to obtain a warrant to search SNC-Lavalin headquarters on April 13, 2012.

According to a series of emails quoted in the RCMP affidavit, Ms. Vanier wrote to Mr. Roy three days before the fact-finding mission suggesting she could separate SNC-Lavalin from the trip at an additional cost. “There is also an option for extraction … which would be $500,000 only if needed.”

After she returned from Libya, Ms. Vanier and Mr. Roy discussed making further trips to reintegrate employees. Mr. Peters was sent to Tunisia in August to meet Mr. Ben Aissa. But following the meeting, Mr. Ben Aissa told Ms. Vanier to stop working with Mr. Peters because of his “crazy ideas,” the RCMP wrote.

On Aug. 23, Mr. Roy sent Ms. Vanier a scanned copy of Mr. Gaddafi’s Libyan passport, the affidavit said. Three days later, Ms. Vanier received an email from her Mexican co-accused, Gabby Cueto: “I will send you one of the birth certificate later today. I cant send the passp cause they will be subject of the pictures. The pictures will take some work.”

Ms. Vanier has not been convicted of any crimes and some have suggested in interviews the term “extraction” referred simply to the emergency rescue of the fact-finding team if their lives were ever at risk in Libya

That afternoon, Ms. Vanier forwarded Ms. Cueto’s email to Mr. Roy with the message: “Please see the message below … Just came in. Moving mountains here … Can’t believe they agreed to send this … Can you get the funds to me asap. Directly into the account.”

On Sept 1, Ms. Vanier sent Mr. Roy three Mexican birth certificates for Amira Sayed Nader, Moah Bejar Sayed and Sofia Bejar Sayed, the statement said. Cpl. Makad alleged they were fakes manufactured for the wife and children of Mr. Gaddafi.

But Ms. Vanier has not been convicted of any crimes and some have suggested in interviews the term “extraction” referred simply to the emergency rescue of the fact-finding team if their lives were ever at risk in Libya.

Last week, Ms. Vanier’s mother told the Canadian Press news agency her daughter was preparing to make a final statement to the Mexican judge who will decide whether she should go to trial. “She’s definitely innocent,” Betty MacDonald said.

The Canada Border Services Agency is attempting to deport Mr. Peters, who immigrated to Canada from Australia in 2008, alleging his work for Mr. Gaddafi makes him complicit in the war crimes of the Libyan regime.

At a recent hearing in Toronto, Mr. Peters, president of Can/Aust Security, testified he helped Mr. Gaddafi escape to Niger in a convoy in Sept. 2011. He said he also helped drive Col. Gaddafi’s wife, daughter and two sons to Algiers. The Immigration and Refugee Board is to rule on his deportation next Tuesday.